Should you match your tips and toes?

Manicurists across the world weigh in on a resurgent celebrity trend

It's the eternal, post-manicure question: should you wear the same shade of nail polish on your fingertips and toes? Turns out, the colour coordinated nail trend has a serious celebrity fan following.

Vogue asks top manicurists for their opinion.

Yes, you should totally match them

Madeline Poole, a runway backstage regular, thinks matching them is "always a classic way to go". But for this season, she adds, there are only a handful of colours that are truly transitional.

"There are the classics for fall like red, nude, black and Bordeaux. These colours are interchangeable; they complement each other and can be worn on hands or feet, and on any skin tone. Jin Soon Nostalgia, a soft sheer beige pink, looks beautiful on anyone. Butter London makes my favourite black — Union Jack black — it's the darkest and shiniest black possible," says Poole.

Naomi Yasuda, who's decked the digits of Alicia Keys, Madonna and Kelly Osbourne, also thinks matching tips and toes is a good idea.

"It is classic and never goes out of style, as opposed to a short lived trend," Yasuda says. To make it more modern, "do something more intricate on your fingers, like incorporating a nail art design, but keep the base coat the same on your toes. This way, they still match but there is another layer of design or texture on your fingers."

No, matching nails are boring

Kimmie Kyees, who counts Rihanna, Katy Perry and Kate Mara among her clients, thinks the idea might be a little dated.

"To match your fingernails and toes used to be a must back in the day and some women still follow that guideline," she says. "But in today's day and age, when colour choices have become so abundant, women like to go a little crazy and have fun mixing and matching." She adds that Rihanna "will wear white toes with just about any other colour on her hands."

"For a person like me, who loves to play around with colours, I like applying different shades on the hands and feet," she says. "If a person opts for a French manicure on her fingertips, she should try other shades like red, pink, orange or dark colours on her toes. I think it's a trend to apply different colours."

On the fence

Jenna Hipp, the go-to nail girl for many a magazine editorial, is hard pressed to pick between the two approaches.

"With nail art still trending strong, a matching manicure/pedicure is considered blasé by most," Hipp says. "But while I'm a fan of the mix-matched manicure/pedicure, I can't deny the beauty in classic subtle simplicity."

Her compromise?

"As a general rule, I recommend choosing shades from the same colour palette to keep your overall look pulled together and intentional."